Second Chance
by KillamriX88
Summary: One boy has a second chance, but how will it end? A prize fic involving only OCs For Kyra's 1st place prize!


**For Kyra-sama, who _dominated_ and placed first in the Secrets contest! I hope I done good!**

**Second Chance**

He was only ten and yet had been through so much more than most would be able to take. He was finally getting a reprieve. His own sister had tried to kill him years ago, and he'd killed her in self defense. Considering what he knew now, he couldn't blame her, though considering he'd escaped from that terrible place they lived, he wished things had been different, maybe they could have escaped together.

Then again, this place wasn't much better. From a lab to a house of assassins. It didn't matter in the end, his sister was dead, he couldn't change that. However, maybe he'd have a second chance with a new sister. He'd always grieve for his biological sister, but this new girl, Saki... he'd treat her just the same, but he vowed to protect her as best he could. Maybe he couldn't protect her from everything, but he'd never hurt her with his own actions.

Saki was left alone in a room eventually, and so Ayame made his way in. She couldn't have been more than five years old, so small, with blond hair and green eyes. Saki was scared of him at first, but he'd be gentle and gain her trust.

"I'm Ayame. What's your name?" He asked softly.

". . . Saki. . . you have a girl's name." She replied, looking at him suspiciously.

"I... uhh..." Ayame hadn't been expecting that one. "I suppose you could say that." He glanced to the side, a bit embarrassed to have a little girl ridicule him moments after meeting.

That was how their relationship and brother and sister began. At first, Saki was slow to open up to Ayame, but when her training began, they ended up with a mutual pain to share. She opened up to him, even if only out of a desperate need for comfort. Ayame never let it show, but having a little sister once again was a slight comfort to him as well. He felt like he had a real purpose in life.

**. . .**

Years later, he'd come back from one of his early assassinations. He'd found Saki sitting, knees to her chest, on her bed. Something was clearly bothering her, so Ayame went to sit beside her.

"Saki, what's wrong?" He asked softly, putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Saki looked up at him, her eyes were not red so she hadn't been crying, but her face showed no sign of happiness.

"I'm going to have to kill people, aren't I?" She asked, though she clearly already knew the answer.Ayame knew she knew, and yet he didn't want to tell her. There was no way that he saw around it though...

"I... yes... you will." Ayame sighed, looking down at the floor. He personally didn't want to think about this so soon after killing someone himself. He was told he'd get used to it, he hadn't yet. Part of him hoped he would never become that detached, but for his own sake, he might have to.

"The training hurts." Saki whimpered. "D-does dying hurt?" She glanced at Ayame, looking incredibly sad.

"Wh-why would you ask something like that?" Ayame grabbed her shoulders, shaking her a little, worried about what she was implying.

"I-I was just wondering... if I kill someone... if they'll hurt." She sniffled, wide eyed after being shaken.

"Oh."Ayame let go of the girl. "No. It's better to say that when you kill someone, they'll never feel pain again." Saki simply gave a solemn nod in response to his word. With that, their morbid conversation was over.

**. . .**

More time passed, Saki's cruelly difficult assassin training continued, and Ayame gritted his teeth as he did his best to help Saki through it, trying not to let her cuts and bruises get to him too much. What could he possibly do? He himself had made it through, but he was good at dealing with pain. Saki wasn't so lucky.

Sometimes Ayame would watch her training, though the horrid woman who conducted their training wouldn't always let him, and other times it was just too hard to watch. Too hard to watch Saki struggle, and feel helpless to do anything about it. Isane, that was the woman's name, the one who taught him and Saki the way of the assassins. How to get close to someone, and then how to kill them silently, and make it look like an accident if need be.

One day Isane took things too far for Ayame's liking.

"You're still not doing good enough." Isane said, with a calculating calmness. Ayame had already been through this part of the training, and he knew Saki had done what she'd been instructed to as well as she possibly could have, to do more would require surpassing human limitations for one her size and age. Isane didn't care, she always looked for an excuse to break them down further, and if there was no excuse to be found, she'd make one up, or just lash out without warning. Ayame clenched his fists, knowing what was about to happen.

"B-but, I did what you said." Saki protested, her subconscious ordering her to back away. Saki too must have known what was coming.

"You're questioning my judgment?" Isane snapped, her hand flying out and striking Saki off her feet.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I'll do better!" Saki tried to stand up so she could bow, wanting to placate Isane before she hit her again. Isane didn't give her a chance, this time kicking Saki.

"Maybe some pain will make sure you act properly in the future!" Isane smirked maliciously. Isane had to have been feeling particularly violent that day, as she once again kicked Saki before the small girl could stand.

Why did she have to do this? Every training session Isane would do something to cause whoever she was training pain. Whether it was the training itself or some punishment that they probably hadn't even earned. If by some miracle the training wasn't particularly awful, and she wasn't in the mood to hit them, then they'd still be yelled that. Sadly, that's what they came to consider a good day.

"AAAH!" Ayame was startled out of his angry thoughts when Saki shrieked. Isane had stepped on Saki's hand, crushing it and keeping Saki from getting up. It was a bad day when Isane was in the mood to go far enough to injure them in a way that might hold back their training.

"I-I... I w-won't be able to... t-train if... if you break it..." Saki pleaded in the only way that might possibly get through to Isane. She looked up at the woman, tears starting to come out of her terrified, green eyes.

"Oh, but this is training too!" Isane pressed down harder, causing Saki to shriek and whimper again. "Sometimes you get hurt, you can't just give up on a job because you get hurt!"

"P-please Isane-sama, she's had enough." Ayame couldn't stay quiet any longer, he couldn't watch his sister cry anymore.

"You _dare_?" Isane looked at Ayame, as if shocked that he had the nerve to speak against her.

"This is too much, I can't let you hurt Saki like this!" Ayame stood his ground, moving closer.

"You don't get to _let_ me do anything! I'll do what I wish, and you will fall in line!" Isane glared at Ayame, though thankfully she stepped off of Saki's foot, now distracted by Ayame.

"No, not if you're hurting Saki!" Ayame shouted.

"And what will you do about it if I don't listen to you?" Isane smirked. Ayame faltered for a moment, but then gritted his teeth and attacked Isane with all his might. Ayame didn't remember much of that fight, but it had been short... and he'd lost horribly. He was unconscious for an entire day afterward.

**. . .**

When Ayame finally awoke later on, he was wrapped in bandages on numerous spots of his body. He'd never realized how dangerous Isane truly was before. He blinked his eyes to clear the haze of waking away and looked around. Sitting nearby was a clearly exhausted and sleep deprived Saki.

"Ayame." She mumbled tiredly, and moved over to kneel at his bedside.

"Did you wait that entire time?" Ayame groaned as he turned painfully to look at her. Nearly everything seemed sore.

"When I could... I still had training." She said, but then raised the hand that Isane had violently violated. It was bandaged, but she wiggled her fingers, showing that it worked. "Th-thank you..."

"You're my sister, I couldn't just stand there." Ayame forced a small smile. It wasn't that he didn't wasn't happy to have helped his sister that he had to force it, but he was simply tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally, tired of all of it; and yet there was no end in sight.

That small moment was one of the last profound emotional moment they would share for a while, as not long later, Saki was sent on her first kill. It had gone perfectly, but she came back shaking.

"You lied to me!" Saki yelled at Ayame when he'd tried to console her.

"Wh-what?" Ayame didn't understand, when had he lied?

"You said dying didn't hurt, but... I cut her throat, and she looked at me... and... and... I could tell..." Saki sniffled.

"I... I'm sorry." Ayame sighed and sat next to the girl on her bed. "Dying can hurt, but once you're actually dead, then the pain is gone. Sometimes you can make it really fast, other times they'll feel it and there's nothing you can do."

"Leave me alone." Saki said in a small voice, head in her hands. Ayame opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it, Saki would have to learn to deal with this herself, he couldn't baby her with this kind of thing. Ayame would wonder later if he made the right choice that day.

**. . .**

As time went on and Saki's body count grew her emotions dwindled proportionally. Every kill made her colder, every pint of blood she spilled made her quieter. It tore at Ayame, he felt as in he was losing another sister simply because she didn't talk to him as much anymore.

Then suddenly, Ayame would catch Saki smiling to herself, but she'd always stop the moment she realized Ayame or anyone else was around. It was a small smile, but it was definitely real. Yet Saki was always just as cold and seemingly detached whenever Ayame would try and talk to her. Ayame started thinking then, what could he do to get his sister back; to make her smile even when he was around. He was starting to get self-conscious that maybe Saki didn't like him or want him as her brother anymore.

One day, Ayame finally had an idea. He'd figured out Saki's birthday a long time ago, though they'd never celebrated it. Perhaps he'd bring back a small present from his next job. He had the feeling that if he simply took jewelry from his victim she wouldn't be happy, and it wouldn't feel right to him either, but he had no money to buy one with.

So off he went to Isane, she didn't come to them,t hey were expected to go to her at regular intervals. She was prideful that way, not even trying to hide her feeling of superiority over them.

"Ah, Ayame... I have a special job for you today." Isane smiled knowingly, clearly she was happy about being able to send him to kill whoever this next target was.

"Special ho-" Ayame didn't get to finish.

"Project Dark Woods." Isane interrupted him.

"How do you-?"

"How I know isn't important kid. It just so happens that it's your lucky day. This is you next job. This man was involved in the project...or at least has some connection to it. Sounds interesting?" Isane's smile grew wider as she saw Ayame clench his fists. He gave a small bow, and then exited the room. His anger was overflowing, Project Dark Woods had ruined his life, taken his first sister from him. However, he couldn't just forget his new sister...

"I have another job." Ayame said to Saki before he left. "But I want to talk to you when I get back, OK?"

"If you want... I might not be here though." Saki shrugged, though her lip twitched upward for a moment, as if she had been about to smile.

"Oh... a job?" He asked her. Saki just nodded silently. "Well, when we're both back here then." He sighed in dismay, he supposed he could wait a little longer though. Besides, he had more than enough to occupy his mind right now. _"Dark Woods..."_

And so Ayame found himself on a bridge in the dark of night, a man waiting there. His target, alone and vulnerable. Ayame didn't care if he was spotted, storming over to the man.

"Who are you?" The man turned to face him, disdain in his voice; clearly not impressed with the look on Ayame's face. Ayame grabbed him, slamming him against the railing of the bridge. "HEY!"

"Project Dark Woods! TALK!" Ayame roared.

"Dark Wood's? I don't know what you're talking about! You've got the wrong guy!" The man protested, trying to wrestle free. He calmed after a moment though, attempting to talk his way out of it, "Look, this is just a misunderstanding I'm sure. I'm just a man waiting for his gir-" His eyes widened, blood leaking from his mouth. Ayame had run out of patience, he wanted this job over and this fool wasn't helping him. He'd just shift his focus to Saki now.

He dropped the man to the ground, not even caring that he didn't know the name of who he'd just killed-

"Kaname! KANAME!" Ayame froze, that voice was familiar.

"_No... no!"_ He slowly turned to face the owner of the voice, his heart sinking. "S-Saki?" It was as he feared.

"A... yame..." Saki trembled before him in horror, but her expression quickly turned to rage. Even as tears streamed down her face, she charged at him, hesitating just before hew blade could cut through his throat. Ayame was so confused, why was Saki so upset? Who the hell had Isane made him kill! Ayame backed away, provoking Saki to attack, but Ayame was too fast. He escaped, and the last he saw of Saki was the girl falling to her knees over the body of the man he'd just killed.

**. . .**

Later on he'd found out what he'd done. He'd been tricked into killing his sister's love, and possibly her way out of being an assassin. That was two sister's he'd lost by his own hand. This time he planned to do more than run away though, he planned to confront Isane. The woman was clever though, the hideout abandoned when he got there.

"DAMMIT!" He punched the wall of the final, empty room of the base. One day though... one day he'd kill her. She'd regret doing this to him. To Saki. Maybe after that he'd even try getting his sister back.

"I'll tell you everything Saki... I promise. No more secrets."


End file.
